Bristol Council Approves City Pay Hikes

September 12, 1995|By RENE ROMO; Courant Staff Writer

BRISTOL — Shrugging off calls to set an example of fiscal belt-tightening, the city council voted Monday to give its members, the mayor and a slew of appointed officials 2.75 percent wage increases in each of the next two years.

The council members will benefit from the raises only if they are re-elected. The increases go into effect after the November elections. The raises will increase the mayor's salary in the first year from $70,000 to $71,925 and each councilman's salary from $6,999 to $7,191. In the second year, the mayor's pay will rise to $73,902 a year and each councilman's salary will grow to $7,389.

Mayor Frank N. Nicastro Sr., who faces a Democratic primary today against challenger Salvatore Micucci, broke a 3-3 tie on the pay increases for the posts of mayor, city council and treasurer.

Ward, noting that the city council approved two consecutive raises of 5 percent for council members and 7.5 percent for the mayor in 1993, said the board should try to set an example for municipal workers, who negotiated wage increases of no more than 2.75 percent this year. Ward advocated wage freezes for the council and mayor over the next two years.

``If we, city officials acting as role models, can't live with [no raises], why should we expect anyone else to?'' said Norton.

But Nicastro said Norton was being disingenuous because the councilman was part of a Republican majority that approved bigger pay increases for the mayor and council in 1993. Nicastro voted against the 7.5 percent pay increase for the mayor's office in 1993, and after the election, he returned 2.5 percent of his 1994 salary, or $1,750, in keeping with a campaign pledge.

``These raises are nothing,'' Nicastro said. ``They are small. They are below the cost of living.''

The council unanimously approved 2.75 percent raises for the corporation counsel, the assistant corporation counsels, members of the assessment appeals board, the civil preparedness director, the emergency planning coordinator and the sealer of weights and measures.

In other matters, the mayor scheduled a special meeting Thursday to discuss a proposed consent decree with the state Department of Environmental Protection concerning the planned March 1997 closing of the city's ash landfill.